For the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize, there are four categories, each one focusing on a separate period of music: the 1960s and 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s, and 2000 to 2005. A jury has narrowed down each of these categories to a shortlist of five nominees (well, six in the case of the '80s), and the public can now vote on who should win in each of the time frames.

The nominees include classic Canadian artists like the Band, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and Rush, plus contemporary faves like Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene and Feist. The shortlists are as follows:

Arcade Fire - FuneralBroken Social Scene - You Forgot It in PeopleConstantines - Shine a LightFeist - Let It DiePeaches - The Teaches of Peaches

Journalist Michael Barclay was the foreperson of the jury that selected these shortlists. He said in a statement, "In a matter of days after our discussion began, our jurors had suggested almost 300 albums for these lists, which demonstrates their knowledge and passion for Canadian musical history. The 21 albums here celebrate our rich and diverse Canadian canon, and represent merely the beginning of what will be an exciting musical conversation in the years to come."

As usual with Polaris, these albums were picked solely based on artistic merit. The winners will be announced on October 9, and the four winning albums will be celebrated with a tribute concert in early 2016 with the folks from Toronto's Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall. The winners will be given a trophy at the show, and commemorative prints of the winning albums will be sold to the public.

Submit your votes — and find Spotify links to the albums in contention — right here. The public can vote for the winners starting today (September 18) until October 5.

Meanwhile, the Polaris Music Prize is also right around the corner. The winner of the $50,000 prize will be announced during a gala at the Carlu in Toronto on Monday (September 21). See the list of contenders here.